Steve Paikin: Conclusions on a Stunning Ontario General Election | The Agenda "10. Democracy is still a beautiful thing. As corny as it sounds, we are still blessed to live in a place where we decide these things with ballots, not bullets. " . . . Perhaps our idea of what democracy is differs because my vote has never once counted in more than thirty years of voting in every election. I don't think real democracy can exist under any system where the majority of the votes don't count.

AFTERMATH: The Fair Vote Canada booth was busy yesterday, as many Ontario residents are upset to discover their votes didn’t count in the provincial election. The Liberal Party of Ontario won a crushing provincial majority with the votes of just 19% of eligible voters. Under the Ontario winner-take-all electoral system, the absolute worst possible outcome for voters is a majority, which effectively gifts the governing party with a time limited dictatorship.

"My parents were born and raised in Canada, yet they couldn’t vote till after World War II because they were of Japanese extraction, so I value the right to vote. I have voted in every federal election since I reached adulthood and have never voted for the party that formed government. We desperately need proportional representation so that a diversity of values and perspectives may be elected." ~ David Suzuki

"In a democracy, every vote should count. It’s as simple as that. But sadly, in our outdated, winner-take-all electoral system, that isn’t the case. It’s a system that allows parties to wield majority control with a minority of votes – and as a result, the voices of many Canadians just aren’t heard. It doesn’t have to be this way. " ~ Thomas Mulcair